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Israel rigged pagers and radios to explode across Lebanon
2024/9/18
Consider This from NPR
Jaina Raff: 以色列对黎巴嫩真主党实施了前所未有的复杂网络攻击，导致多人伤亡，美国官员证实以色列私下承认对此负责。此次袭击是针对真主党成员寻呼机的精准打击，显示出以色列情报和军事技术的先进性。
Elsa Chang: 以色列对真主党的两次袭击发生在以巴停火谈判陷入僵局之际，可能加剧地区冲突，甚至引发全面战争。这起事件凸显了地区局势的复杂性和脆弱性，各方需要谨慎处理，避免局势进一步恶化。
Daniel Estrin: 以色列利用真主党成员为避免被监控而改用寻呼机进行通信的弱点，实施了袭击；此次袭击可能削弱真主党的反击能力，但同时也增加了地区冲突升级的风险。真主党可能因为内部怀疑和通讯受损而难以立即反击，但这并不意味着冲突已经结束，以色列可能还有进一步行动。
Michelle Kellerman: 以色列在黎巴嫩的袭击行动加剧了地区紧张局势，阻碍了以巴停火谈判，美国国务卿布林肯对此表示担忧，并呼吁各方展现政治意愿以达成停火协议。埃及外交部长也警告说，以色列的行动可能导致地区全面战争。美国正在努力促成停火，但面临诸多挑战，包括以色列和哈马斯的政治意愿问题。
Jaina Raff: Electronic pagers belonging to members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah exploded on Tuesday, killing those 12 people and injuring thousands. The attack was unprecedented, a sophisticated cyber operation. A U.S. official told NPR that Israel privately claimed responsibility.
Elsa Chang: Two unusual attacks come at a time when negotiations over a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas have stalled. What could this mean for the region and the threat of an all-out war?
Daniel Estrin: So I want to walk through some of the things we've learned about these two enemies, Hezbollah and Israel, over the past 24 hours. First, Israel... Hezbollah is led by a shadowy figure named Hassan Nasrallah. And he was worried that his group's operatives' cell phones were being spied on. This was not a secret. This was said in a televised address that he gave from a hideout... in Lebanon, and his message was to his military operatives, get rid of your cell phone. Nasrallah said, please break it, bury it, lock it up in a metal box, do it for a week, two weeks, a month... These, referring to the cell phones, are deadly spies. Now, his speech was back in February, and around that same time, Hezbollah switched to beepers... Israel's leadership, remember, has not officially claimed responsibility for these pager explosions. But Israel's defense minister, even just a few days ago, warned that military action was the only way to stop Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and to allow tens of thousands of Israeli civilians to be able to return to their homes safely near the Lebanese border. And today, Israel's defense minister said the center of gravity is moving northward, meaning toward the Lebanese arena. He said that Israel is – allocating resources and forces there. And he said we are at the start of a new phase in the war... Well, what do you think the likelihood is of Hezbollah retaliating now? We're hearing from security experts in the region that actually Hezbollah has taken such a big hit with these latest explosions that it may not have the capacity to initiate a retaliation now. First, its communications have been hijacked. Thousands of its operatives are are wounded. There is likely very deep suspicion within Hezbollah that could spark a lot of questions about who may have collaborated with Israel to booby trap these pagers. And Amr al-Sabaila, the Jordanian security expert said Hezbollah may just not be in a position to attack now... you don't know the level of infiltration and what's next surprise Israel is preparing for you. And this means that going to war in such conditions might be a suicide recipe for Hezbollah. And what we know now, Elsa, is that Israel is not only fighting a conventional war against Hezbollah with airstrikes, we are now seeing a much more mysterious kind of subterfuge.
Michelle Kellerman: The Israeli attacks in Lebanon have sent diplomats scrambling to head off a wider war in the Middle East... Egypt's foreign minister, Badr Abdel-Ati, warned that Israel's latest actions against Hezbollah threatened the whole region... Any unilateral actions towards the escalation must be condemned and is totally rejected and does not encourage any stability. Such dangerous escalation can lead to what we have warned from before, which is moving to the edge of a comprehensive regional war... Secretary Blinken has been trying to prevent that for months now, arguing that if Israel and Hamas can reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, then things would quiet down in northern Israel and Lebanon. But he says the Gaza ceasefire talks have been challenging and take time. Time and again, we've seen that in the intervening time, you might have an event, an incident, something that makes the process more difficult... that threatens to slow it, stop it, derail it. Blinken pointed to the recent killing by Hamas of six hostages, including an American, as one example of an incident that has derailed the talks on a ceasefire and hostage release. He stopped short of directly criticizing Israel for the attacks in Lebanon... He didn't explain why he's not going to Israel this time around, though he sounds frustrated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not shown political will to get a Gaza deal done. Blinken says the U.S. has put forward some ideas to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas. They are clearly resolvable, but... The key ingredient to getting a resolution of these outstanding issues is political will. That's what we're both looking for going forward. That's what's so imperative that we're going to get the ceasefire across the finish line. His Egyptian counterpart was more downbeat, predicting that the Israeli attacks in Lebanon will set back efforts to reach a deal in Gaza.
Deep Dive
Hezbollah members were killed and injured when their pagers exploded in a sophisticated cyberattack attributed to Israel. This occurred during stalled ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, raising concerns about regional stability and the risk of a wider conflict.
- Israel is suspected of orchestrating a cyberattack against Hezbollah using rigged pagers.
- The attacks killed and injured numerous Hezbollah members.
- The incident occurred amidst stalled ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
- There are concerns about potential escalation and all-out war in the region.
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